Breastfeeding of a baby by a nursing woman has important benefits including nutrition, immunity to illnesses and psychological factors such as mother/baby bonding. Additional benefits of breastfeeding include (for the baby): breastmilk is easier for baby to digest and is “made to order” (breastmilk composition changes as baby ages and even throughout the day to meet growing baby's needs exactly), associated with increased IQ, decreased risk of obesity, decreased risk of childhood cancers and illnesses (asthma, diabetes, heart disease, ear infections), decreased risk of SIDS, and increased bonding between mother and baby.
Proper support for mother and baby are necessary to ensure a successful breastfeeding relationship. Some common factors leading to early ending of breastfeeding include lack of support (by family, lactation consultants, or medical providers), latching issues (resulting in poor weight gain or destruction of mother's breast tissue further leading to pain and infection), difficulty establishing and maintaining a healthy breastmilk supply, and the mother returning to work with minimal workplace support or provision for pumping of breastmilk. Without proper support, breastfeeding attempts are often unsuccessful in the long-term, leading to the breastfeeding relationship ending earlier than is decided by the mother-baby dyad.
Risks of not breastfeeding include (for the mother): increased risk of obesity, increased risk of blood pressure instability, return of menstrual cycle possibly leading to closely spaced pregnancy and lack of conservation of nutrients, increased rate of postpartum depression, increased sleep disturbances, increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, increased risk of Rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis. Additional negative effects of unsuccessful breastfeeding are: working mothers missing more work days due to increase in the baby being sick, increased cost due to purchase of formula, and increase in health expenses due to decreased health.
These benefits and risks are well documented in scientific theory and literature.
In the recent days, there is an ever-growing awareness among nursing women concerning difficulties encountered while breastfeeding. An oft-stated goal has been to reduce breastfeeding-related problems and physical discomfort, and at the same time ensure an equal and adequate feeding of milk from both breasts. The feeding pattern more commonly practiced is feeding the baby from both breasts in a single feeding session. After the baby has fed from a breast for a period of time, the nursing woman switches the baby to the other breast and allows the baby to finish feeding on the other breast. It remains a major problem for breastfeeding mothers to keep track of how long a time span has passed since she fed the baby. An even more specific desirable measurement would be how much time has passed as measured by the time that has passed since the beginning of the last breastfeeding session.
Further, it is important to monitor and measure the amount of milk the baby has consumed in a feeding session. Generally, it is not easy for the nursing women to remember from which breast the baby last fed, thereafter neglecting the other breast and allowing it to become painfully engorged with milk. Thus, it is desirable to monitor the feeding time and keep track of the breast from which the baby last fed, how long the baby has been feeding on a breast, how long each feeding session lasts and the interval of time between the feedings. Indeed, lactation consultants and doctors rely on a breastfeeding mother's notes regarding the frequency and duration of the feeding sessions during the first few weeks of a baby's life to analyze the patterns and monitor the baby's weight to keep track of the weight gain. Thus, to have a more reliable means to keep track of interval times is highly desirable, as mistakes made in keeping notes may lead to incorrect medical decisions based on incomplete or incorrect data.
Breastfeeding bras have been known in the prior art for decades, and there are a number of breastfeeding bras on the market today that function quite well in allowing a woman to unfasten all, or a portion of a cup to nurse a baby. However, an unsolved problem is how a woman (and her doctors and lactation consultants) can keep track of the time that has elapsed since a woman has last nursed from either side, as well as recording which side was last nursed, and which side was first nursed during the last nursing session and how long she has nursed from either side. It is also important that a woman keep in mind not only how long she has nursed from each side to “balance” nursing between the two breasts, but also to time the nursing so that the baby nurses completely at one breast before being offered the other.
Thus, there has existed a long-felt need for a nursing garment which keeps track of the breast from which the baby last fed and the time interval between feedings, and the elapsed time on each breast of the current feeding session.
Therefore, the present invention aims to resolve the aforementioned issued by providing a nursing bra or other nursing garment with two cups, each of which can be opened to allow a baby access to a breast, where each cup has some means of electronic monitoring the duration of time the cup has been opened. Further, the feeding information data is stored in one or more smaller, lightweight electronic storage devices built into or attached to the nursing garment. Information can be downloaded via Bluetooth or another electronic means onto a cell phone or other personal digital assistant. This information can be used by the mother and/or given to a doctor or lactation consultant so that they can better determine a nursing regime for the nursing mother.